ZRP-2: Chapter 3, The Coming Storm

(Sam)
"Who knows? Maybe we'll be best friends or something, and then...."
=I trailed off. The conversation was coming dangerously close to our somewhat failed relationship, and I didn't want to dredge up the past. But honestly, there was something. I still felt something for her, but there was a wall between us now. There were cracks in it, but it wasn't time yet for the wall to come down. Maybe soon, and I was hoping that when it came down.....things would be better than before, between the two of us=

(James)
=As we lay there, my mind wandered. I spent some time, thinking to myself about my Eve again. There wasn't any animosity towards her anymore. And I realized now that I couldn't possibly cast stones at her, because her father was a Shepherd. She never chose her family, or who she was related to, the same way I didn't. I had spent so long, trying to forget his face, name, even my relation to him, and when I saw Eve, I had seen myself, trying to run from my blood. I took out my frustration with myself on her, and that was unfair. It wasn't her fault that my own brother, happened to belong to the same depraved, insane cult that took everything from me=

--Shepherds of Judgement Meeting Ground--

=The small collection of leaders, the "Prophets" were gathered in the abandoned community center, the outside town secured, a legion of Shepherds guarding it. Only four in number, they sat at a large table in the center of the largest of the rooms, banners with the symbol of their holy order hanging from the walls. Two other figures stood in the room with them, one at the side of the table, waiting to serve, and the other the lone passenger from the helicopter=

*Prophet*
"And so Jonah is dead. May he find peace in the Lord's embrace. But as to the matter of the attack: so, the heathens have risen up against us at last. It certainly took them long enough. Very well, we shall crush this threat, as we have all others."
=He looked to the figure standing next to the table=

"Pariah, you are our most loyal, most deadly servant. This council decrees that you will be sent to the heart of this army, and cripple it. Find their leaders, kill them all and cut off the head of this snake."

(Pariah)
=The tall figure stepped forward, his face covered by the black hood over his head, and the dark bandanna covering his face, ending below his eyes. He was thin, though with an athletic build, and his stance was one of calm anticipation. There was a gleam in his eyes though, that betrayed the blood-lust he tried to hide=
"And as for the traitor?"

*Prophet*
"The loss of such a valuable tool like Eve is disappointing, but such betrayal cannot go unpunished. Kill her, and her newfound family."

(Pariah)
=Behind the bandanna, he grinned=
"It must have been the work of god himself, to have her new father be James."

*Prophet*
=The man raised a brow. That name had come up in the messengers report, the man who had led the attack and the rebellion=
"You know this man?"

(Pariah)
"Call it sibling rivalry Father. But even that will not save him."

--End of Chapter 3--